Telenor launches Marlink - to provide global mobile satellite communication services for the maritime sector

Press release
Fornebu
4 minute read
Telenor Satellite Services announced today that it has formed a new company, Marlink, to provide a wide range of mobile satellite communication services, mainly for customers in the maritime sector.
Marlink will act as a 'multi-supplier' of mobile satellite airtime providing communication services from a number of suppliers, including but not limited to Telenor. Marlink will also provide traffic accounting services, hardware and value-added services.

"Marlink will be able to provide customers with flexible communication package solutions matching their specific needs and choices in this rapidly changing market. By operating under its own brand name, Marlink will have a stronger position in the market," said Tore Hilde, General Manager of Telenor Satellite Services

"In launching the new company, our focus is on increasing the portfolio of services available to our customers, as well as on becoming the interface between the maritime industry and the mobile satellite services industry," said Søren Einshøj, Managing Director of Marlink.

Marlink brings together the retail arm of Telenor Satellite Services and SAIT Communications, one of the world's largest accounting authorities, which Telenor acquired in 2001. The business currently serves around 8000 vessels worldwide and had revenues in 2001 of nearly US$ 100 million, making it one of the world's largest global mobile satellite service providers. Marlink has offices in 10 key locations for the maritime market: Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Dubai, Hamburg, Houston, London, Oslo, Singapore and Tokyo.


About Telenor Satellite Services
Telenor's Satellite Services business unit is the world's leading provider of global mobile satellite communications via the Inmarsat satellite system and is the only Inmarsat service provider with its own global network of earth stations. Telenor offers high-quality voice, data, e-mail, fax and telex services via Inmarsat and earth stations located at Eik in Norway, and at Southbury, Connecticut, and Santa Paula, California in the United States. Additionally, Telenor is the largest single shareholder of Inmarsat Ventures plc, holding the maximum allowable of 15 percent.

About Telenor
Telenor (NASDAQ:TELN) is a worldwide provider of high quality telecommunications, data and media communications services, with a particularly strong focus on mobile, Internet and broadband services. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the company is present in over 30 countries, has more than 21,000 employees, and had revenues in excess of US$4.5 billion in 2001. Internationally, Telenor has over the last several years steadily increased its investments within mobile, Internet, TV-distribution and satellite communications.